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Joel Laing

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Joel Laing
Born (1975-11-03) November 3, 1975 (age 49)
Maryfield, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Wheeling Nailers
Sheffield Steelers
Playing career 1996–2003

Joel J. Laing is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former goaltender who was an All-American for Rensselaer.[1]

Career

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After finishing up his junior career, Laing travelled to New York and began attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the fall of 1996. He debuted for the ice hockey team as a freshman and shared the starting job with fellow freshman Scott Prekaski. The Engineers finished with a winning record, but neither of their two netminders distinguished themselves as the go-to goalie.[2] It was much the same in Laing's second season, with the sophomore spearing to be heading for a good, but not great, college career. Things began to change in his junior year, however, and Laing began to demonstrate an improvement in net. He started 26 of the team's 37 games and finished the year with 5 shutouts, a new program record.[3] Laing's senior season was his crowning achievement as he cut nearly a full point off of his goals against average and posted career highs in most categories. His .947 save percentage was one of the highest single-season totals for qualifying goalies in history and he bested his shutout record by blacking the opposition six times in 27 games. Laing was named as an All-American and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.[4] His performance got the team all the way to the ECAC Championship game and a #13 finish in the national ranking. Unfortunately, they were left out of the 12-team NCAA Tournament.

After graduating, Laing attended the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins training camp and was signed to a minor league contract.[5] He was assigned the Wheeling Nailers and established himself as the team's top goaltender over the course of the season. He was called up to the AHL for 16 games and put up decent but unspectacular numbers. His second season appeared to be going even better, as his performance in the ECHL was improving, but he wasn't retained by the organization. Laing continued his playing career in England, suiting up for the Sheffield Steelers and compiling an outstanding season. He helped the team win the regular season championship, as well as the Challenge Cup, being named as not only the league's top goaltender, but the 2003 BISL Player of the Year.

Laing retired from professional hockey in 2003 and began working as a senior assurance manager for Ernst & Young. At the same time, he also enrolled at the University of Notre Dame and earned a master's in accounting in 2004. Laing remained with the company until 2012 when he joined the Sleep Number corporation, settling in the Minneapolis area. He worked his way up to Senior Director of Finance (as of 2021).[6]

Laing couldn't stay away from hockey, however, and started coaching youth hockey in 2018. He's worked with several teams since, stick mostly with Squirt (10 and under) and Mite (8 and under) groups.[7]

Laing was inducted into the RPI Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

Statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1993–94 Minot Americans SJHL 38 — — — — 138 0 4.39 .897 — — — — — — — —
1994–95 Minot Top Guns SJHL 36 — — — — — — 3.79 .890 — — — — — — — —
1995–96 Minot Top Guns SJHL 14 — — — — — — 5.01 — — — — — — — — —
1995–96 Melfort Mustangs SJHL 31 16 8 2 1600 91 0 3.41 .899 2 — — — — — 3.00 .910
1996–97 Rensselaer ECAC Hockey 20 10 7 2 1096 56 0 3.07 .918 — — — — — — — —
1997–98 Rensselaer ECAC Hockey 19 9 8 2 1076 53 2 2.95 .909 — — — — — — — —
1998–99 Rensselaer ECAC Hockey 27 16 9 0 1559 73 5 2.81 .921 — — — — — — — —
1999–00 Rensselaer ECAC Hockey 27 17 7 2 1613 49 6 1.82 .947 — — — — — — — —
2000–01 Wheeling Nailers ECHL 47 17 18 7 2615 125 1 2.87 .911 — — — — — — — —
2000–01 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 16 5 8 1 864 47 0 3.26 .902 — — — — — — — —
2001–02 Wheeling Nailers ECHL 43 20 20 3 2382 110 2 2.77 .925 — — — — — — — —
2002–03 Sheffield Steelers BISL 28 — — — 1710 44 — 1.54 .941 17 — — — — — 2.74 .910
2003–04 Milestone Flyers QVHL 9 — — — — — — 3.11 — — — — — — — — —
NCAA totals 93 52 31 6 5,345 231 13 2.59 .926 — — — — — — — —
ECHL totals 90 37 38 10 4,997 235 3 2.82 .918 — — — — — — — —

Awards and honors

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Award Year
All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1999–00 [8]
AHCA East First-Team All-American 1999–00 [1]
BISL First Team All-Star 2002–03

References

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  1. ^ a b "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ^ "Rensselaer Men's Hockey Results by Season" (PDF). RPI Engineers. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  3. ^ "Goaltending by Season" (PDF). RPI Engineers. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  4. ^ "Joel J. Laing". RPI Engineers. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  5. ^ "Hockey Prospect Watch: Joel Laing". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 16, 2001. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  6. ^ "Joel Laing". Linked In. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  7. ^ "Squirt A". Minneapolis Hockey. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  8. ^ "ECAC All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
[edit]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ken Dryden Award
1999–00 		Succeeded by
Preceded by BISL Player of the Year
2002–03 		Succeeded by
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